Random Thoughts

Gary Randazzo

10/20/2006

Sometimes you need to just go with the flow. Other times you need to question everything. After a long week of mulling over the fact that Arizona's football game is again not televised, I turned my attention elsewhere and here's what's been on my mind.

You've gotta love Starbucks. I mean where else can you witness a burly, 250 pound guy with a beard order a percent chai latte with extra cinnamon and a pumpkin cream cheese muffin, and have it all sound perfectly normal.

For those of you not thrilled about tomorrow morning's Big 10 match-ups pitting Wisconsin versus Purdue and Illinois versus Penn State, tune into ESPN Classics re-airing of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series between the Athletics and the Dodgers at 10 AM, PST. With apologies to Tony Robbins, listening to Vin Scully utter the words, "the impossible has just become the improbable," as Gibson pumps his fist and hobbles around second is about as motivating as it gets.

You know it's a bad week of games in the Pac-10 when the traditional West coast 12:30 game is Iowa versus Michigan, followed by San Jose State against Nevada. Maybe ABC thought San Jose State was a Pac-10 school because Dick Tomey's their coach?

What's happened to regional coverage by Fox Sports? Tomorrow night, the entire Fox Sports Programming package is airing Colorado versus Oklahoma. What's worse, Fox Sports Arizona is following up this gem of a game with women's volleyball. I have an idea. There's these two universities in the state of Arizona that have conference games tomorrow that a pretty decent sized fan base would like to see play. Instead, we fans will be relegated to tracking scores on TV tickertapes, browsing the Internet for Game casts, listening to the radio (I don't even think I own a radio outside of the one that came with my car), or using our cell phones to search for scores. Thanks Fox.

Speaking of Arizona versus Oregon State, has there ever been a third string quarterback with more game experience and starts than Kris Heavner?

I can't help but picture the skipper from the movie, "Major League," giving tomorrow's pre-game speech to Arizona. If he did, he might say something like, "we won a football game last Saturday. If we win today, that's two in a row. If we win next week, that's called a winning streak."

Arizona follows the Oregon State game with a bye week before heading to Washington State. I think Heavner keeps it together, our defense plays well at home, and we run just enough to control the clock and keep Matt Moore and the Beaver attack off the field. It won't be pretty, but Arizona wins tomorrow…22-13.

Last night's Game 7 of the NLCS was a nice reminder why I used to watch MLB games on television.

Game 6 of the NLCS was an even nicer reminder why I gave up watching baseball on television with such regularity. With 2 outs in the top of the 5th, my wife and I went out to dinner. 55 minutes later we returned home and the bottom of the 7th was just starting. Somewhere between Joe Carter's walk off homer in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series and last nights dramatic homer by the Cardinals' Yadier Molina, the 4-hour baseball playoff game was born and guess what, they're now w-a-y-t-o-o-l-o-n-g.

For those of you have the NFL Network through DirectTV or your local cable company, check out NFL Replay on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The show re-airs a recent NFL game minus halftime and other elements not critical to the game – and all within an hour and a half. They air about five or six games a week so there's a great chance you'll be able to watch, or even re-watch your favorite team.

Ex-Miami Hurricane player and now ex-Miami Hurricane color analyst, Lamar Thomas, is a real character. The Tucson Citizen ran a good piece this week on ex-Wildcat player Heath Bray and his disdain for Thomas and his antics committed in games against Arizona in 1991 and 1992. Bray was not surprised by what Thomas said on the air this weekend during the Miami Melee and neither am I. If this were Pulp Fiction and Thomas was playing Janeane Garafallo's role, the Wolf would take him aside and say, "just because you are a character does not mean that you have character." There's some truth to that.

Speaking of the truth and Miami, I have to admit that I'm sick and tired of Hurricane players referring to their school as, "The U." The phrase just reeks of arrogance. So does saying, "Thee Ohio State University." At least OSU doesn't make all their disciplinary decisions on how they will affect the schools bowl chances. Of all years to really take a stand against the type of behavior Miami players displayed last Saturday, this would've been the year. Let's face it. Miami has been overrated for several years now and is surviving in the polls solely based on their reputation. The ACC is down, overall, so the Hurricane demise is not as evident to the human eye, but it's there. They are bad; plain and simple. Yes, Hurricanes, I'm talking about U.

The more I learn about West Virginia Head Coach Rich Rodriguez the more I like him. During tonight's telecast, Analyst Rod Gilmore said that during practice, the average team will run five plays in five minutes. WVU runs 12 plays in five minutes so that they're players are more prepared for the rigors of the fourth quarter. That's smart.

By the way, you can add West Virginia's uniforms to the terrible Nike uniforms list. Those undershirts are just too much, and if I see one more team with that multi-colored thigh stripe I'm going to drown myself in a pale of water.

The Collegiate and NFL Competition and Rules Committees need to do away with waiving off Pass Interference calls when the ball is perceived to be uncatchable. I say this because the more I watch these plays unfold, the more I realize that oftentimes the quarterback is throwing the ball away because the receiver is not open due to the fact that at some point in the route the receiver was interfered with. Make sense?

Vegas insiders and odds makers put the Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team at 30:1 to win the National Championship. That sounds like a pretty good $100 investment to me.